ECHL Terminates Greensboro and Roanoke Franchises

[Ez Street]

ECHL Terminates Greensboro and Roanoke Franchises

ECHL Media Release

Princeton, NJ — The ECHL announced on Tuesday that the Board of Governors has voted to terminate the membership of the Greensboro Generals and the Roanoke Express, effective immediately.

All Greensboro and Roanoke players, who have either received a qualifying offer or have executed a standard player contract, will immediately become unrestricted free agents.

Greensboro's termination of the membership comes as a result of the Generals being unable to put a suitable ownership group in place to operate the membership in 2004-05.

Roanoke's termination of the membership comes as a result of the Express ownership group being unable to continue to operate the membership in 2004-05.

“The ECHL would like to thank the fans of the Generals and Expressfor their support over the past five seasons. The ECHL would also like to thank the City of Greensboro for its operation of the Generals in 2003-04 and the Greensboro Coliseum for its support of the ECHL for so many seasons,” said ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna. “We look forward to returning in the future with a strong ownership group to provide the fans of Greensboro with ECHL hockey.”

“The ECHL would like to thank the Express fans for their support over the past 11 seasons. The ECHL would also like to thank the Roanoke Civic Center for extending a reasonable lease for 2004-05,” said ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna. “The ECHL looks forward to its return to Roanoke in the future with a bona fide ownership group to once again provide the fans of Roanoke with professional hockey.”

The ECHL has already begun work on a revised playing schedule for 2004-05 with plans to release it no later than July 30.

No further comment will be made at this time by McKenna, the ECHL or its member teams.

Statement from Matt Brown, Managing Director, Greensboro Coliseum Complex on future of Greensboro Generals hockey:

“It is with great regret we must announce the Greensboro Generals will not be returning to the ice for the 2004-05 season.

Over the past several weeks, we had entered into serious negations with three potential ownership groups; a group of local area businessmen, an NHL franchise and a group of out-of-town businessmen. Unfortunately, however, our exhaustive efforts to secure an ownership group were ultimately unsuccessful.

I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank Art Donaldson for his sacrifices over the past five years to keep the Generals in our community. I would also like to recognize ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna and Generals head coach Rick Adduono for their assistance in the search for a potential ownership group. Finally, I would also like to personally thank the Generals’ season ticket holders and sponsors for their support this past year.

The Greensboro Coliseum will continue to work with the aforementioned local potential ownership group to assist in its efforts to bring ECHL hockey back to Greensboro in the near future.

Season ticket holders will be contacted to begin the process of returning season ticket deposits.”

[Thad]

The Generals had good "pack the house" nights at the beginning of their run, but as of late the stadium has been pretty empty during the games. They did have better attendence than the Prowlers (AFL 2 team)

[Dilbert]

Its sad to see Roanoke go. I liked their logo. Thank God they got rid of Greensboro. They had one of the worst logos Ive seen, Other than the CANTON ICE PATROL! Thank god they never made it to the ice.